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The Appalachian Vault Hunter's Guide, December 2103 Edition
Introduction When we discovered Vault 79 in October, we were initially unable to access it. After a lengthy investigation, however, we have been able to the Vault door itself, even if that in turn remains sealed and impassable for the moment. However, gaining access to the Vault was a complicated process that only served to raise more questions then it answered. Read on to learn more - A Morgan, editor Vault Review Vault 51 Location: '''North-Western Forest region '''Description: '''Recessed into a cliff face with standard Vault door. No externally accessible controls, terminals or other systems. No unusual design features. No access to interior yet discovered. '''Status: '''Sealed (Questionable; see below) '''Type: '''Experimental '''Commentary: The entry for this Vault in the Appalachian Vault Registry at Vault-Tec University was corrupted, but some information was recovered. From what was reconstructed, Vault 51 has (had?) no Overseer, and was instead directed by a ZAX Supercomputer. The Vault was intended to "test the limits of human tribalism". However, in June of this year, the body of a Vault 51 resident was found near Gillman Lumber Mill. Information on their person (including that recovered from their nearly non-fuctional Pip-Boy) indicated that they were the Overseer of Vault 51; a position that was not supposed to exist. Furthermore, the Overseer was carrying a note indicating that they were intending to make contact with a Vault 76 resident and then destroy the Vault 51 ZAX. Because Appalachia didn't have enough homicidal murder computers yet - A Rose Vault 63 Location: '''Mount Blair, Ash Heap region '''Description: '''Located inside a cave that is in turn hidden behind a concealed door in a tool shed. Features a standard Vault Door. Access terminal located near Vault door. Terminal requires access card; one is yet to be located. No access to interior yet discovered. '''Type: '''Experimental (presumed, see notes) '''Status: '''Sealed '''Commentary: The entry for this Vault in the Appalachian Vault Registry at Vault-Tec University was redacted. As yet, nothing is known about the contents and condition of the Vault. It is presumed to be experimental, given that the same entries listed Vault 76 as being the region's Control Vault. Given that the Ash Heap region suffers from subsidence and geological instability, as well as the extensive subterranean fires in its mines, I have to worry about the condition of the Vault itself - K. Mainglov Am I the only one thinking that the entrance is a bit overkill? In a cave behind a secret door on the side of a mountain? - R. Conn Vault 76 Location: Flatwoods County, Appalachia Description: Built into the side of a mountain. Exterior access provided through standard Vault door (with additional cosmetic dressing). Standard vault interior featuring Vault-Tec super reactor and internal resource recycling systems. Separate quarters provided for each resident. Type: Control Vault Status: Opened, uninhabitable Commentary: Vault 76 was the Control Vault for the Appalachian region. Its population were pre-selected from among the best and brightest that the United States had to offer. The Vault was fully populated with its residents and sealed on the day of the Great War. The Vault remained sealed for its expected twenty-five years; during that time, the population increased through reproduction while not suffering a single fatality. The Vault was re-opened on Reclamation Day, October 23rd, 2102. At that point, the Vault’s systems were shut down in order to encourage the population to leave and spread out on their mission, rendering it uninhabitable. However, its systems could in theory be re-started at a later date. For the moment, the Vault has been resealed. While in theory anyone reading this has come from Vault 76, I included this here out of completion as well as in the chance that anyone else finds this or reads it in future – A. Morgan You’re assuming that there are other people left in the world. Pretty big leap there – A. Rose Vault 79 Location: Northern Savage Divide region Description: Entrance is hidden inside a cave, behind a sealed door controlled by a keypad. Inside is a service elevator that is controlled by another keypad. Elevator leads to a large cavern containing the Vault Door. At present it remains sealed with no way to open it. Rest of the cavern is filled with Vault-Tec storage crates and construction machinery. Cavern also includes a vehicle access tunnel that has caved in. Status: Unknown Type: Experimental (presumed) Commentary: Vault 79’s existence was long theorised based on information discovered in the Appalachian Vault Registry terminal (found in the ruins of VTU), however, the location of the Vault was only discovered on October 23rd, 2103. At present the service elevator that provides access to the Vault is presently immobile, and the keypad does not respond to inputs. However, the Keypad itself is still powered and, with the correct code, allows access to the Vault. Discovery of the access code came about largely by accident through retracing the steps of pre-war investigators searching for the so-called ‘Treasure of Appalachia’. Weather Vault 79 is connected to the treasure or if this discovery came about by coincidence is unknown The Vault itself is well hidden and it appears that Vault-Tec made efforts to conceal not just its location but its very existence. Materials destined for the Vault were apparently concealed by using the construction of Vault 76 as a shield. Individuals who might be connected to the Vault all died in suspicious incidents that suggest that they were murdered. A terminal inside the Vault itself makes it clear that staff were not to leave the Vault (or its access cavern) at all lest they risk discovery. Any unauthorised personnel were to be treated as hostile and terminated immediately. The door remains sealed with no way to access it. No trace of the Vault’s inhabitants has yet been found, suggesting that it has remained unopened since the Great War. Based on the information in the Appalachian Vault Registry, it can be presumed that this Vault is experimental. However, the terminal outside the Vault makes it clear that it is protecting something, but with no indications what. I discovered Vault 79 purely by accident during one of my expeditions. It needs to be said that there's nothing at all to indicate that the Vault is even there from outside. It might as well be any random cave in Appalachia. - A. Rose Looking at the Vault, I suspect it's not our suspected 'evacuation vault'. It has no facilities to support evacuation, no access to transport routes or anything else like that. It's not near a road or railway station or even a helipad. - K. Mainglov So we're now betting on it being 63? - R. Conn This thing is just one mystery on top of another. I love it. – R. Conn Vault 94 Location: '''The Mire, north-west of Harper's Ferry '''Description: '''Located inside a cave. Features a standard Vault Door. Standard Vault structure divided into different wings/subsections including atrium, residential, reactor, engineering, maintenance tunnels and GECK. Also includes extensive seed bank and greenhouse facilities. Vault has suffered considerable internal damage including collapsed internal walls and floors, as well as damage to systems. Much of the interior is now overgrown with mutated wildlife to a degree that has blocked passageways and sealed off portions of the Vault. '''Type: '''Experimental '''Status: '''Opened, destroyed '''Commentary: Vault 94 was an experimental Vault. Its populace were pre-selected from a religious community that were founded on the principles of non-violence, communal living and the ideal of reclaiming the earth through agriculture. The Vault had no Overseer; while the community was headed up by pastor Gabriella Savitar, all decisions were made communally by consensus. The Vault was equipped with extensive seed banks and greenhouses, as well as a GECK so that it could be used to replenish the earth after a nuclear war in line with the community’s principles. The only Vault-Tec staff was apparently a single engineer who was in charge of the facility. The Vault’s population had no weapons; even their maintenance and support robots were disarmed. At the advent of the Great War the pre-selected population were relocated to the Vault. Only part of the expected population were able to make it before the Vault was sealed. The Vault remained sealed until its scheduled reopening on October 24, 2078. At which point, the Vault’s population sent out Ambassadors to make contact with the rest of Appalachia, supposedly to aid in the reconstruction of the region. Unfortunately, in November 2078, a group of Raiders entered the Vault and took control of it by force. After killing several of the population they entered the GECK wing and attempted to interfere with the device. This resulted in a nuclear explosion that killed everyone in the Vault before its door automatically resealed. However, the GECK survived and continued to operate unsupervised, resulting in rampant growth of mutated plants inside the Vault. These plants managed to then leave the Vault by unknown means and contaminate the surrounding area, resulting in the creation of the Mire region. A number of dead Vault 94 Ambassadors have been found across Appalachia. However it is not clear when they died, and how many of them outlived their fellows in the Vault. While a number of them clearly died through violence, due to decay and environmental damage not all the causes of death can be determined. I suspect the Vault 94 experiment was about seeing if the ideals of such a community could survive in the face of the realities of the post-war world. It also means that Vault-Tec only launched this experiment with the idea that a war was about to happen – R Conn Looking at the surviving Vault 94 terminals, it seems that the decision to populate the Vault with this community was made very late in the day. Perhaps Vault-Tec had at that point reached a conclusion that a nuclear exchange was inevitable based on the overall strategic situation – K Mainglov How sick can you get with basically setting up those people to die? After that, I’m not sure if I want to get inside the other Vaults – A Rose Vault 96 Location: Southern Savage Divide, Appalachia Description: Built into the side of a mountain. Exterior access provided through standard Vault door. Door is elevated with a large platform outside including a freight elevator (presently non-functional) and security booth. No other details known at this time. Type: Experimental Vault (presumed) Status: Sealed Commentary: Vault 96 remains sealed at this time with no indications as to its status or function. Its designation as an experimental Vault is presumed based on information found in the Appalachian Vault registry. A single terminal can be found outside the Vault that provides door access control. Attempts to access the Vault yield a message indicating that the Vault is functioning normally and that access is not required at this time. You ever notice that all of the Vaults in Appalachia that have above-ground doors face south? What’s up with that? – R Conn Given the Vault’s remote location, I have to wonder where its residents were coming from. It’s in the middle of nowhere with only a narrow mountain road for access and is a considerable drive from the nearest railway station – K Mainglov A holotape I found in VTU said that 96 was considered to be one of the best posts outside of Vault 76. So if it was experimental, then maybe it wasn't intended to kill everyone inside - R. Conn Editorials The Treasure of Appalachia By Alicia Morgan One of the many lessons we have learned since Reclamation Day is that Appalachia is a land of mysteries. The first of these confronted us not too long after we left the Vault: where are the people? Trying to discover what happened to them only raised even more questions. Soon we were pulled into a whirlwind of secrets, lies and conspiracies. The Free States, the Whitesprings, Huntersville and West-Tec, the push for automation, the Mire, the cult of the Mothman, Ultracite, the Enclave and so many others appeared before us. Some were a part of something bigger, while others remain unanswered. One of those that would become particularly important to us was Vault-Tec and the truth behind the so-called Societal Preservation Program. While supposedly about saving lives and allowing the Vault Dwellers to emerge and rebuild America, the program was in fact a front for Vault-Tec to perform experiments on the unsuspecting residents of its Vaults. We have since learned that of the six Vaults in Appalachia, only Vault 76 was designed to actually save lives. To date, four of the other five Vaults remain sealed, with little idea of what may be within. However, even now, over a year after Reclamation Day, we are still being drawn into new mysteries. And despite being long dead, the people off Appalachia still have their stories to tell. The newest riddle to confound us is the so-called ‘Treasure of Appalachia’. Apparently it was a subject of some concern among the Conspiracy Theorist community. One of them, Flavia Stabo had spent considerable time investigating the matter, and discovered a web of cover-ups, sudden deaths and strange crimes that stretched across the country but all ended up centring on Appalachia. In their effort to undercover the truth of the treasure, they had reached out to a number of individuals including Senator Sam Blackwell (later of the Free States), newspaper reporter Quinn Carter and, oddly enough, obsessive self-declared cyptozoologist Calvin van Lowe. Following the trail of their evidence, we discovered little about the treasure itself, but rather found something else. Stabo’s investigation lead them to discover some sort of large-scale construction project that required huge amounts of raw materials. More to the point, these materials were similar to those used in the construction of Appalachia’s Vaults, specifically Vault 76, even if they were being sourced from different places. However, the delivery and destination of these materials was apparently being concealed. If these notes were to be believed, there was a large body of heavy traffic coming through Morgantown, but only some of it was being sent to the Vault 76 site. The rest was simply vanishing. Furthermore, records of these deliveries were being deliberately lost or covered up, including a couple of sudden deaths. Other elements came into play that suggested that something else was going on. One farm had part of its property acquired by the government, with the owner being compensated for their loss. The land was apparently to be used for the containment of radioactive waste, a fact that we have found to be rather common in Appalachia. However, the owner found that despite the heavy construction gong on in their former land, there was no actual radioactive contamination. And of course there are the deaths. Besides the ones mentioned in Morgantown, there were a string of mysterious deaths in Berkley Springs and Harper’s Ferry that occurred within quick succession. In another case, a solder from an Appalachian unit turned up in Las Vegas of all places, where they were involved in a string of high-profile robberies before being killed in a shoot-out. So something was being built in Appalachia, and somebody was going to great efforts to cover it up. So much so that Stabo themselves apparently disappeared not too long before the Great War However, they also put contingencies into place to ensure that their story would get out there. On top of this evidence, we also found a map. It was fragmentary, divided into half a dozen sections that had apparently been traded among conspiracy theorists who were investigating the treasure. Furthermore, they had scattered themselves across Appalachia for reasons that we could only grasp at, but possibly as a part of some effort at exploration or hunting for the treasure. Reassembling these parts revealed two things. The first as a six-digit number, one hidden on each map fragment. The second was a single location, marked on one of those fragments. That location was Vault 79. Previous efforts to explore Vault 79 had been stymied by an access elevator controlled by a keypad code. Entering the number revealed on the map fragments granted access to it, allowing us to reach the Vault itself. Of course, as noted above, it remains sealed with no idea of what might lie inside of it. However, it does also raise a number of questions. Vault 79 is the most hidden Vault in Appalachia. It’s in a cave in the middle of nowhere with no access routes. It’s hidden behind a secret door and below a service lift controlled by a keypad. The staff on-site were instructed to never go outside. And Vault-Tec went to great lengths to conceal not only its location but its construction. Save for one redacted entry on a single terminal in VTU, we would never even know it existed. All of this raises one big question: why? Something about this Vault and whatever is going on inside it was so important that Vault-Tec wanted to make sure that nobody found it. Vaults 51, 76, 94 and 96 all had readily accusable doors that were on or near the surface. And while Vault 63 is somewhat hidden, it is still nothing on the lengths taken to hide 79, both in construction and cover-up. And while it, 63 and 96 all remain sealed, for the moment, Vault 79 has become the most concerning. There is one other issue to consider. Stabo discovered Vault 79 while searching for the Treasure of Appalachia. The question then is if the two are connected in some way, or if this all comes down to a staggering coincidence. As a postscript, we found a skeleton that we've identified as being Stabo just outside of Vault 79. They'd been shot in the head and left in a shallow grave. Guess she found her treasure - R. Conn The making of an Overseer By Rita Conn The single most important person in a Vault (With exceptions that I will discuss later so as not to bury the lead) is the Overseer. To their population, they are a guiding hand, a figure that serves to direct the Vault and its people, and ensure that they have safe lives without disruption and the fear of whatever horrors may lurk in the outside world. They dictate policy, set plans for resource usage, direct staff, resolve disputes and lead their people. The Overseer is the ultimate authority within the Vault, the final say on all matters that goes on within it. In Vault 76, our beloved Overseer was an inspirational figure. Younger than most of those that entered the Vault, she was clearly brilliant and driven, dedicated to protecting those in her care. She ensured that we would have safe, comfortable lives, while also preventing the clashing egos that came with a population of brilliant minds and leaders in their fields from tearing us apart from within. And our faith in her was rewarded in turn with her faith in us. However, for all this, our exploration has also revealed the dark side of the Overseer role. As we now know, the Vaults were not about saving people at all. Only a few of them, 76 among them, were about protecting the people of America from the horrors of nuclear war and then allowing them to emerge an rebuild. Only a tiny minority were these so-called ‘Control Vaults’. The rest were host to a variety of experiments performed on their unwitting captive populations. In these Vaults, the Overseers’ role was to ensure that these experiments were carried out and to observe and record the results. Thus the Overseers of these Vaults were complicit in Vault-Tec’s plans. And, as we have learned, fully aware of what they were doing. So then how did one become an Overseer? What process shaped those individuals that would go on to have such power over the lives of others? And how did they become complicit in the horrors that Vault-Tec would unleash on their unsuspecting populaces? In this article I will seek to answer those questions and explain some of the mechanisms that made this all possible. My aim is to draw back the curtain and explore the world of Vault-Tec in an effort to promote a greater understanding of our world, while also serving as a cautionary tale for any future would-be Vault explorers. The heart of the Vault-Tec training program is Vault-Tec University (Henceforth VTU), located in Morgantown, Appalachia. A sprawling campus spread out across the city, VTU was previously the University of West Virginia until it was bought out by Vault-Tec and renamed. VTU is an entirely corporate owned and run entity, with its educational programs and their content dictated by Vault-Tec themselves. Outwardly, it offers a wide variety of courses across a number of different disciplines from sciences to the arts. These include chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, computing, medicine, philosophy, literature, social studies and so on. VTU was a massive success for the company, attracting students from across the country to study there. Behind the scenes, everything that VTU did was aimed at supporting Vault-Tec and its experiments. The university was a prime recruiting ground for Vault-Tec itself, who would swoop in on students that they saw as having value to them and offer them jobs. It also benefitted from their research and work, which they used in any number of ways. These ranged from the acquisition of technologies that would be used in the construction and operation of the Vaults to theories, data and methodologies that would be used in the development and implementation of Vault experiments. VTU’s staff readily spied on and used the students to further the company’s goals, and would further exploit them as we will discuss later. Those that were recruited by Vault-Tec would go on to serve a number of roles within the Vaults. These included scientists, technicians, engineers, security and so on. Others would serve the company in more ways then one. Tyrone Hayes, the only Vault-Tec staff within Vault 94, was serving as the Vault’s chief engineer. However, his true job was to monitor the Vault’s populace and see how they reacted within the boundaries of Vault-Tec’s expectations. Surprisingly, he actually turned out to have a conscience, and tried to derail the experiment by trying to persuade the populace not to open the Vault. Unfortunately, they did so regardless, leading to their deaths, the destruction of the Vault and the creation of the Mire. Of course, the most important of those roles were the Overseers, which is the point of this article. The Overseer career track began within VTU. Exceptional students would be offered an opportunity to join the Overseer program, an effective extension of their course akin to doing a master’s degree or other postgraduate studies. This course, which was hosted entirely at VTU’s central halls, focused on all aspects of Vault management, but especially on those areas that concerned handling a Vault’s population. Potential Overseers were also given access to VTU’s Simulation Vault which would be used to test population and behaviour control skills on a live populace, which were in turn recruited from the VTU student body. A successful Simulation Vault exercise was key to an Overseer’s passing the course and graduation. As we will see, the Simulation Vault served other purposes as well. A key part of this course was the indoctrination of potential Overseers into the Vault-Tec corporation’s philosophies and approaches. Students of the Overseer program were told the truth of the Societal Preservation Program, and how it was being used as a means to perform experiments on their unwitting clients. Even then they were sold on the basis that these experiments would be for the good of all mankind, aimed at helping humanity to survive a nuclear war and rebuild afterwards. Our own Overseer became aware of this fact during her time at VTU. She almost went public with this information and yet held herself back, having bought into Vault-Tec’s claims about how what they were doing was vital to building a better future. Even then, I expect that she was not yet aware of how inhumane some of those experiments actually were. (Or, at least, I want to believe that.) While they were enrolled in the course, would-be Overseers were encouraged to experiment and develop their own ideas and models that could then be adapted to Vault experiments. However, these ideas would then in turn be co-opted and repurposed by the VTU staff towards their own ends. A good example comes from Drew Collingsworth, who had devised a high-nutrition food paste that could be potentially used to feed Vault Dwellers. He was given time in the VTU Simulation Vault in order to test his development and see how it performed. Unknown to him, the VTU staff had deliberately sabotaged his formula and included a hardening agent that would induce heart attacks in those that consumed it. The end results of this experiment on an experiment became moot as the Great War occurred during Drew’s simulation run, effectively sealing him and his unwitting test subjects inside the Simulation Vault and resulting in their deaths. Potential Overseer assignments were based on performance within the course. The best graduates were assigned to the Control Vaults, something that the students themselves were aware of and strived to achieve. (As a side note, my own modelling has suggested that there are between seventeen and twenty Control Vaults. This figure needs to be taken with some caveats, however, as it is based on very incomplete data. Also it needs to be noted that I was blasted on Jet at the time.) Other experimental Vaults were seen as being preferable, presumably based on what experiments were meant to be performed within them. For example, Vaults 96 and 101 (located in Washington DC) were seen as being plum postings. Conversely, Vault 29 (located somewhere on the West Coast) was seen as a poor assignment. However, these assessments are based on subjective evidence, as we do not know what experiments were performed within those Vaults. It is with no small sense of pride that I add that Vault 76 was seen as being the best assignment that an Overseer could land. With all that being said, it has to be noted that not every experimental Vault needed or even had an Overseer, depending on the requirements of its experiment. Out of the five experimental Vaults that we know of in Appalachia, two of them did not have Overseers. Vault 51 was designed to be run by a ZAX supercomputer, and was deliberately not given an Overseer. And while we have discovered the body of the Vault 51 Overseer, how they achieved the position is a mystery. Conversely, while Gabriella Savatar was the leader of the community within Vault 94, she was not its Overseer and, in fact, was not even a Vault-Tec employee. Her position is only very roughly analogous, as all decisions within that Vault were made by consensus and she had little actual authority. There is still a lot that we do not know. Key among them is when and why Vault-Tec created its program of wide-scale Vault experiments. Was this their goal all along, or were their goals originally straightforward and twisted over time? And given that at least one of those experiments (Vault 94) was based on the premise of a nuclear exchange actually occurring, the question then needs to be asked to what end were they actually running these experiments, and how did they intend to gather the results afterwards? We may never know the full truth, but we have, at least, learned something. Category:Magazines